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Arsène Wenger is the longest-serving manager in Arsenal's historyCredit:
AP

It is Arsènal no more. Yesterday, Arsène Wenger played his 1,235th and final match as the manager of Arsenal football club – a 1-0 victory against Huddersfield. The man who came from France and conquered with élan has finally fallen on his sword after a decade-long retreat. Arsenal just lost its accent.

Football is a numbers game and it's always tempting to retell matches or careers in statistics. Certainly, 18 trophies over 22 years is no shoddy feat. But the numbers never tell the whole story, and Wenger was at Arsenal long enough for his to have a classic three-part arc. It started with the Wonder Years (two doubles, a season undefeated); moved on to the difficult middle part (a new home,...